Yield: 6 mocha muffins // Total Time: 30 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.

espresso chocolate chip muffins with an espresso glaze
These espresso chocolate chip muffins with an espresso glaze, or mocha muffins for short, are the perfect muffin for coffee lovers like myself. First of all, they are SUPER moist and fluffy. They’re also filled with coffee grounds (they don’t give you a weird texture, trust me) and mini chocolate chips, topped off with a coffee streusel and an espresso glaze. They’re loaded with coffee/espresso flavor.
recipe tips
weigh your ingredients
Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient and can easily throw off a recipe. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. This one is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out! If you don’t have access to a scale, here is the best way to measure flour:
- How to measure flour with cups: fluff up the flour with a fork, then use a spoon to scoop it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top of the cup, then use as directed.
mix the batter carefully
It is super important to not overmix the muffin batter. Overmixing the batter leads to more gluten development which will take your muffins from light and fluffy to tough and chewy. If you’ve ever had your muffin tops be super pointy – overmixing is also the culprit! Be sure to mix the flour gently into the batter, and stop mixing right when that last flour streak disappears.
room temperature ingredients
It is important for the ingredients to be at room temperature so that they properly incorporate with each other. Here’s how to get room temperature ingredients FAST if you’re in a time crunch or forgot to take the ingredients out (like I often do):
- Egg: place the egg in a bowl and run hot water over it for 1 continuous minute, or let it sit in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Sour cream and milk: microwave each in 5-second intervals until it is no longer cold, but is not warm (room temp!)
keep an eye on those muffins!
Muffins like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them. Start checking at 14 minutes with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out wet, check them again in 2 minutes and so on until only a few moist crumbs stick to the toothpick.
how to get bakery style muffin tops
The trick to getting those nicely domed muffin tops is (mostly) all in your oven’s temperature! Bake the muffins at 425°F / 220°C for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C and continue baking until done. The super high heat will make the muffins rise nice and tall! You will also want to bake them lined in every other tin on the muffin pan, and fill them to the very top. This recipe makes the perfect amount of batter to fill every muffin liner straight to the top for those perfect muffin tops!
how to evenly distribute your muffin batter
My favorite way to evenly distribute muffin batter is to use cookie scoops! Works perfectly every time. So long are the days of eyeballing which muffin may need a little more batter.

ingredients and substitutions
All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness. We will use flour in the muffins and some in the streusel.
Ground coffee: don’t be scared, but we’re going to put coffee grounds straight into the batter and in the streusel. They are 100% safe to eat, and help us pack a ton of coffee flavor into these muffins. We will use some in the muffins and some in the streusel. If you don’t have coffee grounds, you can use instant espresso or instant coffee in it’s place!
Baking powder: for helping the muffins rise.
Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the muffins.
Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the muffins. We will use butter in the muffins and some in the streusel.
Granulated sugar: for sweetening the muffins and helping them retain moisture.
Egg: for binding and for moisture.
Vanilla: for flavor.
Kefir: for moisture and making sure the muffins stay tender, I used whole milk plain kefir. You can substitute in buttermilk or greek yogurt if needed.
Mini chocolate chips: I love using mini chocolate chips because they make sure you get a little bit of chocolate in every bite. You can use regular-sized chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or a chopped baking bar here as well.
Light brown sugar: for the streusel. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can use granulated in the streusel!
Powdered sugar: to make a simple espresso glaze.
Espresso: fresh brewed espresso, instant espresso, or strong coffee will work here.
how to make mocha muffins






small batch mocha muffins q&a
how to store these muffins
Like most baked goods, these muffins will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. They will last for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
can I double this recipe?
Of course! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe to make 12 delicious mocha muffins. I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.
why do you measure in grams?
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
why are there coffee grounds in the muffins?
In this recipe, the grounds are directly in the batter and streusel in order to get the most flavor put into them. If we were to use brewed coffee, these muffins would be more dry and less tender since we would be hydrating them with water rather than sour cream. Don’t worry, it is 100% safe to eat! I personally love the taste that it brings, but if you would prefer something else, you can dissolve instant espresso or coffee in the room temperature kefir before using!
a note on oven temperature
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. For example, I always have to set my oven to 330°F if I want it to bake at 350°F. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

tools and ingredients
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
did you make these small batch mocha muffins?
If you made these small batch mocha muffins I would love to see them and know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and review down below, and tag me on Instagram @freshbeanbakery. If you have any questions about the recipe I will gladly do my best to answer them in the comments below!

Small Batch Mocha Muffins
Ingredients
Coffee Streusel
- 22 g butter (1 ½ tbsp.)
- 30 g light brown sugar (2 tbsp.)
- 40 g all purpose flour (¼ c.)
- 1 tsp. coffee grounds
Mocha Muffins
- 56 g unsalted butter (4 tbsp.)
- 100 g granulated sugar (½ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 120 g kefir* room temperature (½ c. + ½ tbsp.)
- 140 g all purpose flour (1 c. + 3 tbsp.)
- 1 tbsp. coffee grounds
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 80 g mini semi sweet chocolate chips (⅓ c.)
Espresso Glaze
- 60 g powdered sugar (½ c.)
- 1-2 tbsp. espresso
Instructions
Coffee Streusel
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Add in the brown sugar, flour, and coffee grounds. Mix around with a fork until you have small and large chunks of streusel. Set aside.
Mocha Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a muffin pan with 6 parchment liners, alternating the liners between the 12 muffin cavities.
- In a medium sized microwave safe mixing bowl, melt the butter. Whisk in the sugar, followed by the egg, vanilla, and kefir.
- Add in the flour, coffee grounds, baking powder, and salt. Gently whisk the mixture together until there are only a few flour streaks left.
- Add in the chocolate chips and fold them in just until no flour streaks remain.
- Evenly distribute the muffin batter between the six parchment liners. Top each muffin with coffee streusel.
- Bake the muffins at 425°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F / 175°C. Bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
Espresso Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar,and 1 tbsp. espresso. Add more powdered sugar or espresso to get your desired consistency. Once the muffins have cooled to room temperature, drizzle the glaze over them.
- Serve and enjoy!
Arianna says
I made these for my hubby first. He said they were amazing! I have been making them many many times for friends. Everybody loves them. Thanks!
Marta MF says
Very yummy! I just made these. They turned out wonderful, and the coffee adds such a great flavor! I added a hard roast Starbucks coffee and it was actually really good for this recipe. See the picture attached (minus the vanilla glaze!). Thanks, Erin! I’ll come back for more recipes 😊
Erin says
Ah thank you so much for making these, I’m so happy you liked them! 🙂
rem says
perfectly written!!! this was one of the first things I’ve baked from an online recipe (if not The first) and it made me feel so confident in my skills as a baker😭❤ just made them again and i am in LOVE w them!! i love the strong coffee and chocolate flavour. the glaze is suchhhh a perfect addition. not to mention these lil guys r even better the day after. so moist and flavourful!!! i love them!!
Erin says
Ah thank you so much and I am so honored to be one of the first recipes you’ve ever made!! So happy you love this recipe! 🙂